D unham wilkes



N dtittd tant atleti @Wina Letters .Patent No. 99,507, dated February l,1870.

IMPROVEMENT IN SHING'LE-MCHINE.

The Schedule referred to in these Letters Patent and 'making part of thesame.

To all whom. tt may concern Be it known that I, DUNHAM WLKEs, of'Nineveh, in the county of J obnson, and -State of Indiana, have inventeda new and 4useful Portable Shingle-Machine; and I do hereby declare thefollowing to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same,sufficient to enable others skilled in the art to which my inventionappertains to make and use the same, reference being had to theaccompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, in which-,-

Figure lis a front view of the device illustrating my invention.

Figure 2 .is a sectional plan view in the line 2 z,

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the twofigures.

` My invention relates to an arrangement'of the gearf `ing o'f aportable shingle-machine, as hereinafter more fully set forth.

In the drawings- A A represent the sill-pieces, to which are' secureduprights B, which are connected together at the top by a cap orcross-piece, O.

D represents a table or platform, which is secured to the uprights, andintended to support the timber while being presented to the knife.

. A shaft, E, is 'mounted on the sill A', and carries on one end a crankor erank-wheel, a, to which is connected a pitman, b, which is joined tothe lower end of a sliding frame, vF, which carries a knife, G, andgauge H.

A. toothed wheel, c, is mounted on the shaft E, which gears with apinion, d, mounted on the driving-shaft J, whose bearings, on one'side,are on an arch or frame, K, which is elevated above the sill A", and theother side ison an auxiliary upright, B', extending parallel with theupright B.

Ihe shaft J also carries the ily-wheel w and pulley e, the former ofwhich revolves between the crosspiedces B B.

A staple, L, is hinged'to each end `of the sills'AA, said staples being`of ordiuary construction and form.

It will be seen that the frame and working-parts, as thus described,form a portable device, which, when carried to any intended spot, may bermly held in place, by driving wedges or stakes through th'e staplesagainst the ends of the sills.

The frame F slides between" the uprights B and the knife G, which issecured to said sliding frame F, has a cutting-edge of|twodiagonalfaces, which are brought down against and ont through the timberwhen the frame isv lowered, through the mediumof theoperating-mechanism.p

The gauge H consists of a dat plate-of metal, extending iu line with theknife G, and formed with ears or lugs, through which passes a pivot-rod,M, whose ends enter the eyes of screw-bolts N, which are4 supported andguided in block O, secured respectively to the middle and lowercross-pieces of the frame F.

These screw-bolts'are readily operated through the medium of screwnutsor taps n, working on the blocks, and allowing the gauge to be setrelatively to the thicknesses ofthe shingle tothe cnt. r The gauge is tobe adjusted relatively to the set or taper ofthe shingle, by means ofscrews P, which pass through the middle cross-bar, and bear against theends of the gauge.

The operation is as follows;

The timber is split into broad blocks, from four to eight inches thick,and from six to eighteen broad, owing tothe size ofthe timber, the broadpart of the block being split across the grain of the timber, .so thatthe grain or splitting way of the timber is across the block in the thinway. y f

After the timber has been well steamed, a block is placedon the tablewith the edge down, from which `he intends to begin toont theshingles.`

Ast-he knife ascends, the operator slips the broad side of the blockunder the knife. As it descends, he ltakes oli' a thin slip, barelysuiicient to face the block and makethe shingle straight. It is thenplaced, with the face side down, on the table, and the edge from whichhe intends to out theshingles, as the knifev ascends, is slipped underand faced. The block is here set up on the faced edge, and the otherside faced,-as before, and the block is now ready to heout intoshingles. The operator now observes the: grain of the timber at the edgeof the block, and places that side of the block down, which causes theVgrain at the edge of the block to tend slightly tothe knife downward,and then takes hold on each end of the block, and, as the knife ascends,he slides it against the gauge-bearing, ateach stroke of the knife,sniiciently hard, 'rst with right hand and then with left, to turn' thegauge, y

making thethick end of the shingle rst at oneend and then at the other,until the block is cut up, unless the grainof the tirn'ber begins to runwith the edge of the knife, or tendtoward the block downward; then theblock must be turned bottom side up, with the same edge to the knife,which sets the grainl right with the knife, and the block is finished,as previously described. I will remark, that so long as this rule ofkeeping the grain of the timber tending slightly toward the knifedownward, the shingles will always be as solid as if sawed or shaved;but. if the grain in the wood begins to run with the edge ot' the knife,ortend into the block downward, it begins to come in line with Athe faceof the back part of the knife, which is bevelled or wedge-shaped, andbegins to draw into the block, and crack or spoil the shingles. On theoontrary, when the grain 'of the timber is tending slightly toward theknife downward, the front face of the knife being straight, it cutssmoothly through the block -without drawing the knife, and the grain of.the timber in the shingle, as it comes o, stands bracing to ward theknife, and will not curl from the knife, but will come off solid andtrue. For this reason, I attach no feeding-apparatus to my machine.

The screws N" are vdesigned to move the gauge iu or out, to'suit thethickness of the shingle, and the screws P can be set'in against the endofthe gauge, so as to prevent it from turning on its pivot, and makestraight shingles,.i desired. Experienced operators can use it in thisWay for. jointng the timber before cutting into shingles.

Having thus described my invention,

NVhat I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

lhe arrangement o f gearing c d, shafts E J, elevated bearing K, y-wheelw, and pulley e, in 'connection with knife G, and gauge H, uprights BB,sills A A', and staplesl L, to form a portable shingle-machine, asdescribed. I

llhe above,.signed by me, this 20th day of J uly, 1869. DUNHAM WILKES.

Witnesses:

A. B. HUNTER, H. M. KELLY.A

